Sergeant Kirk or Sgt. Kirk () is the main character of the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

comic book creator developed specialized terminology. Several attempts have been made to formalize and define the terminology of comics by authors such as Will Eisner, Scott McCloud, R. C. Harvey and Dylan Horrocks. Much of the terminology in English is under di ...

Hugo Pratt Ugo Eugenio Prat (15 June 1927 – 20 August 1995), better known as Hugo Pratt, was an Italian comic book creator who was known for combining strong storytelling with extensive historical research on works such as '' Corto Maltese''. He was indu ...

and

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

author Héctor Germán Oesterheld.Oesterheld biography
on Dan Dare

Publication history

The series, created in Argentina during the Golden Age of Argentine Comics, was first published in issue 225 of the weekly comics magazine ''Misterix'' on January 9, 1953. The idea was to make

Western comics Western comics is a comics genre usually depicting the American Old West frontier (usually anywhere west of the Mississippi River) and typically set during the late nineteenth century. The term is generally associated with an American comic bo ...

with

, a rising star at the moment. Oesterheld initially tried to make a Sergeant set in the times of

colonial Argentina Colonial Argentina is designated as the period of the History of Argentina when it was an overseas territory of the Spanish Empire. It begins in the Precolumbian age of the indigenous peoples of Argentina, with the arrival of the first Spanish ...

, but it was rejected as it would not be profitable. Seeking documentation about the history of the United States' relation with the native Americans he read about the

Wounded Knee Massacre The Wounded Knee Massacre, also known as the Battle of Wounded Knee, involved nearly three hundred Lakota people killed by soldiers of the United States Army. More than 250 people of the Lakota were killed and 51 wounded (4 men and 47 women a ...

, and used it as a starting point for his stories. Similarly to revisionist Western, he tried to avoid the standard portrayal of the cowboy as a flawless hero, and made him instead a man trying to make amends for the killing of natives. ''Sargento Kirk'' continued its run in ''Misterix'' until issue 475 on December 20, 1957, when Oesterheld's own publishing house

Editorial Frontera Editorial Frontera was an Argentine publisher of comic books, which lasted from 1956 to 1961. It was established by the author Héctor Germán Oesterheld. History Héctor Germán Oesterheld created two popular characters for the '' Misterix'' m ...

was established, and the series resumed in the Frontera magazines ''Frontera Extra'' and ''Hora Cero Suplemento Semanal''. It ran until 1961 with drawings by Pratt, Jorge Moliterni, Horacio Porreca and Gisela Dexter. An additional ''Sargento Kirk'' story was published in 1973 in the magazine ''Billiken'', drawn by Gustavo Trigo.

Synopsis

Sergeant Kirk is a former soldier of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

who goes on to serve in the post-war

Wild West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

. Forced to participate in a massacre of American Indians by the U.S. Army, Kirk deserts and devotes himself to defending the Indians. An essentially noble man, Kirk treats even his enemies with tolerance and

humanitarianism Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotion ...

. Among Kirk's companions appearing in the series are "El Corto", Dr. Forbes and the Native American boy, Maha.

Magazine

''Sergeant Kirk'' () was chosen as the name of the

comics magazine Comic magazine or comics magazine may refer to: * A comic book * A comics anthology * ''Comic Magazine'', a 1986 Japanese film * Comic Magazines, the parent company of Quality Comics * British comics * List of Franco-Belgian comics magazines, Franc ...

Pratt launched in Italy in July 1967 by publisher Florenzo Ivaldi (Ivaldi Editore). This carried showcased work from the Argentine period, as well as the series ''Luck Star O'Hara'', ''Gli Scorpioni del Deserto'', and the first publication of ''

Corto Maltese ''Corto Maltese'' ( ; ) is a series of adventure comics named after the character Corto Maltese, an adventurous sailor. It was created by the Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt in 1967. The comics are highly praised as some of the most arti ...

'' in the story ''Una Ballata del Mare Salato''. The magazine maintained regular distribution until December 1969 and was issued sporadically during the 1970s.

Notes

Sources

''Sgt. Kirk'' publications
Archivespratt

FFF

External links

Bedetheque {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirk, Sergent Sergent Kirk Sergent Kirk Italian comics characters Sergent Kirk Western (genre) comics characters Fictional sergeants Fictional American Civil War veterans Fictional Union military personnel Comics by Héctor Germán Oesterheld Comics set during the American Civil War Argentine mascots Italian mascots Magazine mascots 1953 comics debuts 1961 comics endings 1973 comics debuts 1973 comics endings Comics by Hugo Pratt Male characters in comics Male characters in advertising Mascots introduced in 1953 Western (genre) heroes and heroines